That is very true, and a bunch of compliance officers standing in the way of progress. Government moves at the speed of snails who are lazy, all on the back of taxpayers.

They could learn, I just asked ChatGPT what it would recommend, which assumes I have no experience, and I'm a clueless idiot: https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6a6cad...

It's also pointing out that a spreadsheet is not a data management system, which everyone should understand. There's a reason we have databases, and everyone has heard of them, regardless if you know how to use them.

I agree

Exactly, people don't want to learn the right way or better way to do anything.

That's a terrible argument. If you only have a screwdriver in your toolbox, that doesn't make it a good hammer because you don't know the difference. I understand that a "normal" computer user isn't going to have DB skills, and InfoSec knowledge, but when it comes to data management, why is a "normal" user going about that without IT, and other DevOps related specialists, especially considering this is government involved?

Sure, but it's still unsuitable for data management. Obviously people can do advanced data management in a spreadsheet, they host an Excel championship, but that doesn't mean you should use it as a database.

I couldn't imagine what a contractor would bill a government to build that system, it would be disgusting. All you really need is a server, locked down like a nuns nasty, Postgres (or another DB, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, etc...), and a frontend that has limited scoped access.

The problem is in the assumption that IT shouldn't be involved. IT should be the ones running the locked down, and bolted shut database, offering a frontend into it, with limited scoped access. It doesn't matter what spreadsheet you use, spreadsheets are not data management platforms, and when you try to mix them, you usually end up burned.

Excel is a spreadsheet software, not a data management privacy system. Why do people grossly misuse spreadsheets? This has nothing to do with basic Excel training, this has nothing to do with spreadsheet training, for the simple reason no one should have used a spreadsheet. Whoever decided that a spreadsheet was the right medium, should be fired, and face legal consequences.

This kind of error is why you can't rely on the government or law-enforcement being competence enough to handle anything. I understand this happened before all the insane digital violation bills in Canada started popping up, but, this kind of mistake demonstrates why the government and law-enforcement can't be trusted to handle our data. They can't be trusted to even look at the right data, let alone understand it, follow up, or determine what is and is not relevant.

This is not a reasonable or understandable error to make, this is a literacy error, which means someone, or some group, can't read, write, or comprehend. How many legal experts were involved, without anyone asking to verify the username? Why did no legal expert ask why there was no evidence on any of the devices? That alone should have prompted the username verification, which would have completely resolved part of the issue before it started.

As for KiK being able to hand over the data, that's another problem. That problem demonstrates why we need strong client-side encryption, to prevent the grotesquely illiterate from being able to get involved. The government and law-enforce can't make a defence, they've demonstrated a total lack of common sense, literacy, or even responsibility, going beyond this single case. Trudeau used emergency powers, illegally, to arrest innocent and peaceful protestors, while filing terrorist charges, after he refused accountability. Carney and his group of pedo's, are passing laws for digital ID, Age attestation, Identity attestation, secret collection orders, and other nonsense, so they can build up the CP spank bank.

I call them "digital molestation cameras", I use the term digital molestation a lot.

Regardless if he did anything legally wrong, there is a better way to handle this situation. Before you travel, backup your phone to a hidden encrypted volume, then wipe the phone. Set a dummy passcode that you can give out at the border, and be assured you're safe. That being said, he wasn't presented with a warrant to force handing over or retaining evidence, so what is he guilty of?

All he has to argue is that he was never presented with a warrant, and therefore the requirement to retain evidence didn't exist, and so he can't be held liable. Regardless what the government wants to argue, there is a legal avenue they could have used to force the retention of evidence, they didn't use it, so they forfeited any legal protection.

That's undoubtedly what they should be called moving forwards, Meta should rename them because Pervert Glasses is just excellent!

If you're running Windows, you don't care about privacy, security or digital liberty, so you can't complain that LG did something underhanded.

Wipe your phone before you travel, and then there is nothing to find. Make a hidden VeraCrypt volume, backup your phone into that volume, then wipe it, and you're safe. Regardless if you use Windows or Linux / Unix, just back it up, and wipe it. The best defence is a strategic offensive, and this is precisely what I do before I travel. To level up this setup, you then want to remove VeraCrypt from your system, and always run a tool such as BleachBit, using a multi-pass approach, to make sure the system is clean. I usually travel with a secondary notebook I keep around, just for travel, which can SSH into my primary system, so I can keep working.

If you're distressed about someone finding out something, do what the QubesOS project suggests and remove the disks from the computer and mail them ahead of you. Just keep a staged disk in the computer, so if you have to turn on the notebook, you can.